Display resolution signal and upscaling/downscaling

[luanblur]

I have a Samsung LED monitor 1080p/60hz and a laptop, running the same resolution and packed with an GT 840M, i7 4510U and 8gb RAM, this settings are OK for running games at 720p, so there comes my question. To avoid upscaling, I set my desktop to 720p and check the "maintain display aspect" in Intel Graphics options, so it downscale, cutting off pixels from 1080p to match 720p, so the image doesn't blur.
This has saved me for playing games at lower resolutions with less quality loss. BUT, there are some games that doesn't keep the display signal and starts the game in 720p upscaling to 1080p. When the "maintain display aspect" is checked, the monitor understands the signal as 720p, when not, like the game I mentioned, it shows 1080p, unchecking that option and blurring the image during the upscale. Do anyone have a clue on why some games just don't keep the desktop settings on launch? If I force the game to run in windowed mode, It works fine but I get a performance loss.

 

[basroil]

Most games aren't made to run like that so they simply tell the screen to reconnect at the desired resolution. No real point in doing what you are doing though, might as well just lean back a bit and enjoy the full screen

 

[luanblur]

Most games aren't made to run like that so they simply tell the screen to reconnect at the desired resolution. No real point in doing what you are doing though, might as well just lean back a bit and enjoy the full screen

The picture stays at full screen when I'm doing this, but as I said, with this trick, the 720p doesn't look blurred as upscaling. It compares to what consoles do.

 

[basroil]

It compares to what consoles do.

Consoles actually do the opposite! They render at lower resolutions then upscale the output directly. In the case of the xbox one they can do a split rendering (3D at lower resolution, HUD at max resolution), but in most cases when the output can't be 1080p (developer wants FPS over quality, or they can barely manage 30fps as it is), they will pick a resolution lower than 1080p and then upscale to 1080p directly!

Try enabling additional screen sharpness in the nvidia or intel driver, you might be able to force increased sharpening with a profile

 

[luanblur]

It compares to what consoles do.

Consoles actually do the opposite! They render at lower resolutions then upscale the output directly. In the case of the xbox one they can do a split rendering (3D at lower resolution, HUD at max resolution), but in most cases when the output can't be 1080p (developer wants FPS over quality, or they can barely manage 30fps as it is), they will pick a resolution lower than 1080p and then upscale to 1080p directly!

Try enabling additional screen sharpness in the nvidia or intel driver, you might be able to force increased sharpening with a profile

I'm a little bit confused on what upscaling and downscaling is. I'm getting one of both here, because it fills all the pixels on the screen, making the picture less blurry. It does look better than changing the ingame resolution. I'll try your suggestion. Appreciate the help!